Blight Lands
From the very beginning, the Blight Lands started a long time ago in 2000 BC when a sect of the Dragoon clan, dwarven hunters, and a few porc warbands went into the mana wilds and started demolishing the Ancient Forests for their resources. However, that all changed when a mana dragon by the name of Carazoza was slain by the pillaging tribes which caused an uproar in the forests as they finally had enough. Trees blackened and oozed a vile sap and once passive creatures became feral and aggressive attacking anything in sight, with once patient and mystic creatures becoming furious and spiteful turning their souls forever black. It was with the help of these blackened beings that they forced the three parties out of the woods, Though the damage was done and the Ancient Forests and the Mana tree by the name of Yankigg was never the same transforming into what would be commonly known to the world as the first tree of Blight. The First Blight Wars After the three clans were forced out of the Ancient Forests which were now called the Black Forests by the new blighted creatures, they began a campaign across the other Mana Forests across the land turning the once peaceful lands to their side using the fact that they are next after one forest is destroyed. Three years past, and the Blight lay siege to the last dwarf stronghold, the once spread out humans are rapidly facing the threat of extinction and the once-powerful and mighty porcs numbers have dropped to triple digits. The ones untouched in this crusade are the elves which with the aid of the White Dragon sealed their kingdoms away in a seal of light. Sadly though an elven city was lost thanks to the actions of an elf known as Xephos "the Traitor" Eisenger broke the seal of light in the elven city and let loose the blighted creatures into the town causing chaos and calamity causing the city to become forever lost. With that blow, the White Dragon alongside the forces of Mana banded together and took control of the blight lands calming and thinning the numbers of the blighted beings, thus the First war of the Blight Came to a close. With that, the dwarves and humans managed to rebuild their numbers up, with the king of the dwarves known as Erikson Bloodbane the III and the human king Sigarius Kral making a pact to help build up each-others kingdoms until the damage was fixed. However, some races weren't so lucky, the porcs couldn't repopulate to reach there old size, leading them to only hundreds or so left. The elves of the lost city were forever driven insane and transformed into shadowy versions of their former selves. However, with the Blights existence came a new era of Dark and Vile Magic such as Necromancy, Haemomancy, and Shadomancy for example. With the Blight forests next to Mana, they now act as a destructive reminder to not harm the world, as an ever corrupting presence in the world. New cults of the Black Dragon As a centuries pass and go, the world for the Blight changed as the White Dragon succumbed to her illness and passed into the Great Beyond leaving the Blight to their own devices. That was until they heard rumors and noises of the bringer of calamity the Black Dragon roar with absolute rage and sadness as near the lands of Blight. Galth Fee "The Great Demon" as he was known by many though he wasn't a demon, the champion and lover of the Black Dragon was ambushed and murdered by a band of warriors from the human and elven lands with dwarvish crafted weapons. As news of this traveled the Blight grew both angry and frightened realizing the kingdoms were returning to their old, cruel, and selfish ways before the Blight came to be, with this the blight sought to help their ally as they formed a grand army and helped siege the cities of human, dwarf, and elf. However, unlike the times before the Elves, Dwarves and Humans had made changes to their technology, tactics, and magic as well causing massive casualties to Blight and felling the Black Dragon himself. With this, the Blight forces left retreated into the Blight lands to regroup and regrow numbers but it was during this time that they allowed the followers of the Black Dragon to set up camp within the lands. As the followers spread the Black Dragon's message of: "To always reach for progress but to always be mindful to use that which you learned wisely, lest it lead to ruin.", others began to share this ideology and formed what is now known as the cult of the Black Dragon. Currently, the cult of the Black Dragon is accepted within the blight lands due to the development and understanding of magic and how the world works. While some Blighted lords accepted the ideas of the cult, there are others who wish to use the message of the Black Dragon to seed destruction and corruption, though others state that with this will lead to them causing the same damage and ruin the three races did long ago. The cult of the Black Dragon are also known to keep parts and items of Galth Fee to use as relics as the spirit in them remains powerful and it gives a reminder of the Black Dragon and his Lover's many achievements. Current Blight Lands With the passage of time new and exotic beings and creatures pop up out of the Blight Lands, Creatures such as Man-Eater Plants which are large flowery buds that grow to reach 5 Meters tall with four elongated and sharp stems they use to cut and stab at prey to which they then feed into their fanged maw for nutrients. A lot of Man-Eater Plants vary in shapes and sizes depending on which area they grow in. Then there are creatures like Preyton's, carnivorous deer with large sword-like fangs, giant horns, scythe-like claws, and a two-meter wing-span. The lands of the Blight themselves are a near maze as time in the areas don't function as it does in the mortal world, as it could be a nice, warm spring day in one part, its a cold, harsh winter night in the next which makes the lands near impossible to traverse and survive in unless prepared. The Lands themselves also can corrupt those who aren't prepared turning many of those who entered the lands into blighted beings. The lands of the blight vary from area to area as there is some that stretch into miles upon miles of desert, then there is some that stretch into a harsh, sub-zero, taiga forest. There are some that are jungles and some that are ruined areas of once abandoned and fallen kingdoms, overgrown with flora and fauna. However, the most common lands of the Blight are swamps which fester and ooze with blighted Ichor and reek of death and decay. Blight Culture Despite their spiteful and corruptive nature, the Blight's culture is one of fascination and competition. Every year on February 8th to 14th the Blight host the event known as the Crimson-Pink Rose festival to which opponents from every blighted land come to compete against the other beings for a chance to win 10 Amber (1 Amber equals to 1,000 gold coins to them), a chance to feast on the banquet of kings which is commonly reserved for Blight lords, and a chance at a Multi-Sex harem that can reach from 20 to a record-setting 2,000. However, the losers of the said festival are killed by their would-be mates (Though some do escape but that's a rare chance) or are killed by the competition and served as food. The beings of the blight lands are often raised with the mentality of "Might makes Right" or the survival of the fittest as blighted beings often have a lot of children which some of them are killed by each other, the blight creatures or if they are unlucky by drinking sap from the trees of blight. However, some if they are extremely lucky if they are selected by the Blight Tree, like the Mana Tree, they are turned into spriggans which allow them to be raised in somewhat safe environments and raised to become mages, warriors, caretakers, breeders, and leaders. To turn into a spriggan is a high honor in Blight society as they are revered and are taken with the utmost authority, once a spriggan gets big enough they may take some followers and start their own lands which earns them the title of Blight war-lord, which the title can be changed to War-King to War-Queen, or even if the land is extremely large enough War-Emperor although one does not need to be a spriggan to become a Blight war-lord, for instance, Amanita of the Man-Eater's earned hers through her achievements of experimentation alongside also being the new Blight Dragon. Some earned the title by proving their worth in battle, having a large following, or being creatures like galbias or dragons. Blight Magic While there are those who don't wish to become mages, there are some who are born with the Blight's gift to receive powerful and unstable magic. Those that can use Blight magic are willows (Spriggans with long leafy hair), or Magum's (regular beings of the blight) and galbas can learn to use it. To use blighted magic one must be blessed by surviving eating the sap of a Blight Tree and to get intuned with the Lifeforce Web ways, the magic itself can often be used for buffing or augmenting allies, or severely damaging opponents by turning the land and their equipment against them and even corrupt their own allies to fight against them, however the backlash when misused can severely hurt or curse the wielder so extreme caution is advised. Those who are part of the cult of the Black Dragon learn to make use of complex dark magics which to many others would be to hard to understand or use. Within the cult of the Black Dragon there are mages often referred to as Sons or Daughters of the Black Dragon, they are very powerful mage's in the blight lands oftentimes striking fear into the hearts of even War-lords. The Black Dragon cult mage often tries to recite techniques of the Black Dragon and develop onto them to help aid their magic, however, if done wrong the danger this can cause is catastrophic and can lead to the mage dying or potentially worse.